Birds of the Rockies

Part 1

Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed between equal signs was in bold face in the original (=bold face=).

BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES

LEANDER S. KEYSER

Author of "In Bird Land," Etc.

With Eight Full-page Plates (four in color) by LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES; Many Illustrations in the Text by BRUCE HORSFALL, and Eight Views of Localities from Photographs

With a Complete Check-List of Colorado Birds

WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER Sphyrapicus thyroideus (Figure on left, male; on right, female)]

Chicago · A. C. McClurg and Co. Nineteen Hundred and Two

Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1902

Published September 27, 1902

TO KATHERINE AND THE BOYS

IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY DAYS BOTH INDOORS AND OUT

CONTENTS PAGE

UP AND DOWN THE HEIGHTS 19

INTRODUCTION TO SOME SPECIES 31

BALD PEAKS AND GREEN VALES 47

BIRDS OF THE ARID PLAIN 83

A PRETTY HUMMER 103

OVER THE DIVIDE AND BACK 117

A ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAKE 139

A BIRD MISCELLANY 149

PLAINS AND FOOTHILLS 177

RAMBLES ABOUT GEORGETOWN 197

HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK! 223

PLEASANT OUTINGS 259

A NOTABLE QUARTETTE 285

CHECK-LIST OF COLORADO BIRDS 307

Part 2

INDEX 349

ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL-PAGE PLATES

PLATE FACING PAGE

I. WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER--Sphyrapicus thyroideus Frontispiece

II. GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE--Pipilo chlorurus; SPURRED TOWHEE--Pipilo megalonyx 47

III. LAZULI BUNTING--Cyanospiza amoena 83

IV. LARK BUNTING--Calamospiza melanocorys 139

V. LOUISIANA TANAGER--Pyranga ludoviciana 177

VI. TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE--Myiadestes townsendii 223

VII. RUDDY DUCK--Erismatura rubida 259

VIII. BROWN-CAPPED LEUCOSTICTE--Leucosticte australis 303

SCENIC AND TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS ("Their grass-lined nests by the babbling mountain brook") 21

TURTLE DOVES ("Darting across the turbulent stream") 44

PIPITS ("Te-cheer! te-cheer!") 50

PIPITS ("Up over the Bottomless Pit") 51

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW ("Dear Whittier") 55

RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET ("The singer elevated his crest feathers") 65

DESERT HORNED LARKS ("They were plentiful in this parched region") 84

HORNED LARK ("It was a dear little thing") 88

COYOTE ("Looking back to see whether he were being pursued") 100

ONE OF THE SEVEN LAKES 105

SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK 111

"PIKE'S PEAK IN CLOUDLAND" 114

CLIFF-SWALLOWS ("On the rugged face of a cliff") 118

ROYAL GORGE 123

PINE SISKINS 128

Part 3

WILLOW THRUSH 136

BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS ("An interesting place for bird study") 139

YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS ("There the youngsters perched") 142

"FROM THEIR PLACE AMONG THE REEDS" 146

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN JAY ("Seeking a covert in the dense pineries when a storm sweeps down from the mountains") 152

RAINBOW FALLS 165

WATER-OUSEL ("Up, up, only a few inches from the dashing current") 167

WATER-OUSEL ("Three hungry mouths which were opened wide to receive the food") 171

"NO SNOWSTORM CAN DISCOURAGE HIM" 174

"THE DARK DOORWAY" 179

SONG SPARROW ("His songs are bubbling over still with melody and glee") 194

CLEAR CREEK VALLEY 201

WESTERN ROBIN ("Out-pouring joy") 207

RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS ("Chiselling grubs out of the bark") 211

PIGEON HAWK ("Watching for quarry") 214

"SOLO SINGING IN THE THRUSH REALM" 218

GRAY'S AND TORREY'S PEAKS 245

PANORAMA FROM GRAY'S PEAK--NORTHWEST 249

THISTLE BUTTERFLY 252

WESTERN WHITE 252

JUNCO ("Under a roof of green grass") 255

SOUTH PARK FROM KENOSHA HILL 265

MAGPIE AND WESTERN ROBINS ("They were hot on his trail") 271

VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW ("Squatted on the dusty road and took a sun-bath") 279

"'What bird is that? Its song is good,' And eager eyes Go peering through the dusky wood In glad surprise; Then late at night when by his fire The traveller sits, Watching the flame grow brighter, higher, The sweet song flits By snatches through his weary brain To help him rest."

HELEN HUNT JACKSON: The Way to Sing.

BRIEF FOREWORD

With sincere pleasure the author would acknowledge the uniform courtesy of editors and publishers in permitting him to reprint many of the articles comprised in this volume, from the various periodicals in which they first appeared.

Part 4

He also desires to express his special indebtedness to Mr. Charles E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, whose contributions to the ornithology of the West have been of great scientific value, and to whose large and varied collection of bird-skins the author had frequent access for the purpose of settling difficult points in bird identification. This obliging gentleman also spent many hours in conversation with the writer, answering his numerous questions with the intelligence of the scientifically trained observer. Lastly, he kindly corrected some errors into which the author had inadvertently fallen.

While the area covered by the writer's personal observations may be somewhat restricted, yet the scientific bird-list at the close of the volume widens the field so as to include the entire avi-fauna of Colorado so far as known to systematic students. Besides, constant comparison has been made between the birds of the West and the allied species and genera of our Central and Eastern States. For this reason the range of the volume really extends from the Atlantic seaboard to the parks, valleys, and plateaus beyond the Continental Divide.

L. S. K.

All are needed by each one; Nothing is fair or good alone. I thought the sparrow's note from heaven, Singing at dawn on the alder bough; I brought him home, in his nest, at even; He sings the song, but it cheers not now, For I did not bring home the river and sky;-- He sang to my ear,--they sang to my eye.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON: Each and All.

Not from his fellows only man may learn Rights to compare and duties to discern; All creatures and all objects, in degree, Are friends and patrons of humanity. There are to whom the garden, grove, and field Perpetual lessons of forbearance yield; Who would not lightly violate the grace The lowliest flower possesses in its place; Nor shorten the sweet life, too fugitive, Which nothing less than infinite Power could give.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: Humanity.

Sounds drop in visiting from everywhere-- The bluebird's and the robin's trill are there, Their sweet liquidity diluted some By dewy orchard spaces they have come.

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY: A Child World.

Even in the city, I Am ever conscious of the sky; A portion of its frame no less Than in the open wilderness. The stars are in my heart by night, I sing beneath the opening light, As envious of the bird; I live Upon the payment, yet I give My soul to every growing tree That in the narrow ways I see. My heart is in the blade of grass Within the courtyard where I pass; And the small, half-discovered cloud Compels me till I cry aloud. I am the wind that beats the walls And wander trembling till it falls; The snow, the summer rain am I, In close communion with the sky.

PHILIP HENRY SAVAGE.

BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES

UP AND DOWN THE HEIGHTS

To study the birds from the level plains to the crests of the peaks swimming in cloudland; to note the species that are peculiar to the various altitudes, as well as those that range from the lower areas to the alpine heights; to observe the behavior of all the birds encountered in the West, and compare their habits, songs, and general deportment with those of correlated species and genera in the East; to learn as much as possible about the migratory movements up and down the mountains as the seasons wax and wane,--surely that would be an inspiring prospect to any student of the feathered fraternity. For many years one of the writer's most cherished desires has been to investigate the bird life of the Rocky Mountains. In the spring of 1899, and again in 1901, fortune smiled upon him in the most genial way, and--in a mental state akin to rapture, it must be confessed--he found himself rambling over the plains and mesas and through the deep cañons, and clambering up the dizzy heights, in search of winged rarities.

In this chapter attention will be called to a few general facts relative to bird life in the Rockies, leaving the details for subsequent recital. As might be expected, the towering elevations influence the movements of the feathered tenants of the district. There is here what might be called a vertical migration, aside from the usual pilgrimages north and south which are known to the more level portions of North America. The migratory journeys up and down the mountains occur with a regularity that amounts to a system; yet so far as regards these movements each species must be studied for itself, each having manners that are all its own.

In regions of a comparatively low altitude many birds, as is well known, hie to the far North to find the proper climatic conditions in which to rear their broods and spend their summer vacation, some of them going to the subarctic provinces and others beyond. How different among the sublime heights of the Rockies! Here they are required to make a journey of only a few miles, say from five to one hundred or slightly more, according to the locality selected, up the defiles and cañons or over the ridges, to find the conditions as to temperature, food, nesting sites, etc., that are precisely to their taste. The wind blowing down to their haunts from the snowy summits carries on its wings the same keenness and invigoration that they would find if they went to British America, where the breezes would descend from the regions of snow and ice beyond the Arctic Circle.

Continue reading Birds of the Rockies free in the Wunder reader →